Lake Ontario Waterfront Festival

Special activities for the 2026 festival will highlight America’s 250th anniversary, including a children’s education activity focused on the National Historic Landmark World War II U.S.S. Tugboat LT-5. Part of the H. Lee White Maritime Museum’s collection of historic vessels, the LT-5 participated in the D-Day landing of Allied forces at Normandy on June 6, 1944.America’s history of service to the nation by ham radio operators will come alive with Fred Legawiec and other "hams" operating from the museum’s historic Derrick Boat No. 8 along Oswego’s West First Street Pier. They will talk with operators aboard museum ships worldwide as part of the Museum Ship Weekend Event on Saturday and Sunday between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.Lake Ontario Waterfront Festival activities also feature maritime history and recreation, the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, environmental protection and research, seafaring song and dance with The Happy Pirates, and local tourism.